Legislators Take Up Contractor Reform

Darren Jackson, SEIU 503 ODOT member from Gresham, testified Monday morning before the House Committee on Business and Labor in support of better contracting out guidelines found in Senate Bills 2037 & 2867. Karen Miller, DHS member, also testified.

Representatives of good-government groups joined SEIU 503 members March 9 to testify at an Oregon House committee hearing in support of two bills designed to increase transparency, quality, and accountability in the letting of public contracts.
The bills — HB 2037 and HB 2867 — have taken on added relevance since passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the Go Oregon stimulus plan, providing millions of dollars to contractors to help stimulate our economy and requiring new levels of transparency and accountability to assure Oregonians and Americans that the money is well spent.

Rep. Mike Schauffler, who chairs the House Business and Labor Committee, said during the hearings that, while he anticipates changes to the bills as they were submitted, he believes they stand a good chance of passage in some form in the current legislative session.

"These bills seek to make this degree of transparency and accountability part of every major public contract all across Oregon," said Rep. Chuck Riley (D-Hillsboro), a proponent of both reform bills. "Over the years state and local governments have relied on contractors to provide public services, yet many of our laws regarding transparency and accountability have not kept up. With recent problems with Cascadia and the Ross Bros, it is time for the state to increase the availability of information and to ensure that taxpayers are getting what they are paying for."

HB 2037  would require state and local contracting agencies to increase transparency regarding contracts. The bill requires that agencies post information online regarding bidding processes, costs of contracts, amendments, and jobs created by the contract. The bill mirrors procedures already in place for federal contracts under a law introduced two years ago by then Sen. Barack Obama. Just Wednesday, President Obama issued a memorandum he said would save the federal government $40 billion a year through tighter contracting standards.

There is no definitive total of how much Oregon and its localities now spend annually on private contracts, but the aggregate appears huge. DAS reported that the state has spent over $4 billion on contracts during a 22-month period and Multnomah County recently estimated that contracts account for 40 percent of its total budget. Supporters of public contracting reform have set up a clearinghouse of information on Oregon's public contracting at oregongovernmentaccountability.com.

National experts such as Nathan Newman of the Progressive States Network and Sean Molton of OMB Watch have been working with states and the federal government to set up similar websites. Molton collaborated on the federal website and Nathan has been working with state and the federal government to come up with transparency requirements that provide the public with information. Newman and Molton are expected to testify Monday when the House Business and Labor Committee begins considering both bills.

If HB 2037 is designed to shed more light on public contracting at every level of government, then HB 2867 represents a comprehensive effort to save taxpayer money and protect the public from poor performing contractors, by creating a new threshold of accountability for agencies and contractors. Some of its provisions would:

• create standards of quality expectations for contracts;
• allow the Secretary of State access to contractor files as well as agency files in auditing public contracts;
• eliminate the practice of contracting the oversight of primary contractors to other contractors;
• prevent "revolving-door" conflicts of interest by barring public employees who work with a contracting firm from joining the firm within a year of leaving the public service;
• mandate a cost analysis of contracts over $25,000 to ascertain whether the same work could not be done as efficiently and effectively in house;
• expand responsible bidder guidelines to include a bidder‚s poor performance in prior contracts using such yardsticks as cost overruns and delays; and
• require that agencies review the credentials of contractors on its prequalification list at least every three years.



   View coverage from Public News service and hear audio of testimony
Read OSPIRG report on government transparency in Oregon
Read press release from the Association of Engineering Employees of Oregon


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